Organizers credited community support with helping them bring back the festival for its 36th year.
AUSTIN, Texas — Thousands of Austinites turned out Saturday for the Austin Pride Festival, despite triple-digit temperatures.
The festival returned to Fiesta Gardens in East Austin for its 36th year. The event, organized by the nonprofit Austin Pride Foundation, featured new vendors, new entertainers and activities.
Organizers take steps to keep attendees cool
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With temperatures soaring, organizers and attendees took steps to beat the heat.
Austin Pride Outreach Director Jamal Crier said the festival offered water, electrolytes and shaded areas to help people stay safe and comfortable.
“We still have water monsters here available for everybody,” Crier said. He added that vendors were providing Liquid I.V. and extra electrolytes, while the stage area was shaded.
Austin Travis-County EMS also had units stationed outside the festival grounds.
The vendor inKind was also handing out 600 servings of ice cream donated by Austin-based Lick Honest Ice Creams.
“We’ve been getting a lot of people, like, ‘I heard y’all have ice cream,’” said Adam Hinojosa with inKind.
He added, smiling, “And we’re like, ‘Yes we do!’”
Abigail Stern, also with inKind, said, “August is kind of a difficult month to do Pride in, but I think everybody’s happy to be here and be a part of the community.”
Austin Pride celebrates community support
Austin Pride Foundation leaders also thanked the community for helping make this year’s events possible amid rising costs and the political climate.
Crier said the organization hosted more than 11 events across 10 days at locations throughout Austin.
“We’re going all around Austin to show that Austin Pride exists in multiple different corners of the Austin community,” Crier said.
Crier said the Austin Pride Festival will end at 6 p.m. The Pride Parade is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Saturday along Congress Avenue downtown.